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Best Blogs: A Political Notebook October 28, 2008

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, one of Barack Obama’s chief Western surrogates, is not commenting on whether he would want to be one of the possible president’s agency heads, possibly at the Interior Department.
“I believe Sen. Obama is going to have multiple, wonderful candidates for all his positions,” Salazar told the newspaper. “I’m working on behalf of his campaign not because I want any position, but because I’m comfortable; I just want him elected president.”
It is worth noting that we have been through a similar speculative storyline before, when Salazar told Political Notebook in August 2007 that he is not gunning for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment: “I love being a senator. I want to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Whose running mate?

Posted Monday, Oct. 27 at 10:03 a.m.

When The Anchorage Daily News endorsed Barack Obama for president, one sentence caught our attention, specifically when the editorial addressed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s political relationship with GOP presidential nominee John McCain:
“Gov. Palin’s nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency — but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.” (emphasis added)
Yes, we know what the newspaper was trying to say, but it is a curious slip of the tongue on the part of Alaska’s most prominent newspaper.

Obama draws massive crowd in Denver, underlines polling trend

Posted Monday, Oct. 27 at 9:19 a.m.

If there was any doubt that Barack Obama is playing offense in Colorado, it could be seen in the space Sunday between Denver’s civic center and the state Capitol, according to press reports.
The Rocky Mountain News has reported that Denver police estimate that he drew around 100,000 for his rally. That’s roughly 20,000 more than the number of people who packed Invesco Field to hear his presidential nomination acceptance speech.

Bradford, allies latch onto attack ad to leverage support, media

Posted Friday, Oct. 24 at 1:05 p.m.

Nothing rallies a candidate like a negative ad, especially in places like House District 55. As we’ve reported before, Republican Laura Bradford has been accused of opposing the inclusion of routine cancer screenings in her health plan.
For the second time in a week, she called the press together to rebut her attackers.
“It’s a blatant lie,” Bradford said.
What the ad’s backers probably do not realize is that even if they turn off a handful of Republicans from voting for Bradford, they have — via earned media and their paid media — raised her name recognition. In a race where pols believe the results will be close, these negative ads actually could hurt the Democrats’ hopes to retain state Rep. Bernie Buescher’s seat.